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American and Delta devalued their higher-tier “standard” awards long ago — in the case of American’s AAdvantage program, that’s enabled some truly shocking redemption levels, like the 75,000 one-way domestic economy awards we saw last year over Thanksgiving. Now it’s United’s turn to make some… adjustments.

Fortunately the results won’t be nearly as egregious — United’s new “Everyday Awards,” which replace standard redemptions, will be capped, though the rates will fluctuate up to the new upper limit, just as they do with AA and Delta. Unlike that latter carrier, United will still maintain an award chart, and with it, transparency. In other words, there shouldn’t be any surprises. We also have plenty of notice — the new redemption levels (and other adjustments to come) won’t go into effect until November 1, 2017.

Everyday Awards are but one of the changes, however. Let’s dig in to what’s to come…

In This Post

Everyday Awards

First of all, a bit of good news — while there will be changes to some premium-cabin saver redemptions (more on that below), United isn’t making any changes to economy saver awards. One-way economy saver awards will continue to cost 10,000 miles (for flights 700 miles or less) or 12,500 miles (for all other flights within the mainland US, Alaska and Canada). As mentioned above, United is replacing its standard level with new “Everyday Awards,” however.

This new type of award will only apply to flights operated by United and United Express — all partner flights will continue to be available only at the saver level.

With United’s move from standard to Everyday Awards, the upper limit for redemptions will increase for almost all regions, with a few exceptions. Maximum Everyday rates for United-operated flights from the US will match current standard levels for the following destinations:

US, Alaska and Canada — Business and first class

Northern Africa — Economy, business and first class

North Asia — Economy and business class

Otherwise, the upper limit will jump — for flights within the US, you can expect to redeem as many as 32,500 miles for economy (vs. 25k for standard awards today). However, the redemption level will fluctuate based on demand, so you could end up paying just 15,000 miles for an Everyday award, or the same 25,000 miles you would today. We’ll have to wait until November 1 to see how this pans out.

Elite members no longer receive complimentary upgrades on these routes, and as of November 1 you’ll need to redeem more miles to travel in business or first class as well. Business-class transcon flights will require 35,000 miles each way for saver or up to 60,000 for Everyday; two-cabin first-class flights to Hawaii will require 50,000 miles each way for saver or up to 95,000 miles for Everyday. Non-premium first-class awards on similar routes will continue to cost 25,000 miles (continental US) or 40,000 miles (Hawaii); and up to 50,000 or 90,000 miles for Everyday Awards, respectively.

International Business and First Awards

The vast majority of customers book saver awards, so those changes will have a bigger impact, and according to MileagePlus lead Praveen Sharma, the airline has opened up significantly more economy saver award space over the past few weeks — overall, there’s been an 11 percentage point increase in award space compared to this time last year.

Additionally, economy flights within Hawaii will increase from 6,000 miles to 7,000 each way.

Before and After United Award Chart

Here’s what’s changing for flights operated by United (note that short-haul partner travel may be included at these rates). Below, Y represents economy travel, J for business and F for first class. Mixed-cabin flights price at the highest cabin rate. Multiply all rates by 1,000. Two-cabin first class is priced at the “J” rate.

Destination

Y (Old)

Y (New)

J (Old)

J (New)

F (Old)

F (New)

US, Alaska, Canada*

12.5

12.5

25

25**

35

35

Hawaii

22.5

22.5

40

40**

50

50

Mexico

17.5

17.5

30

30

40

40

Central America

17.5

17.5

30

30

40

40

Caribbean

17.5

17.5

30

30

40

40

North South America

20

20

35

35

45

45

South South America

30

30

55

60

70

80

Europe

30

30

57.5

60

80

80

Northern Africa

40

40

70

70

85

85

Central/South Africa

40

40

70

70

85

90

Middle East

42.5

42.5

70

75

90

90

Central Asia

42.5

42.5

70

75

90

90

South Asia

40

40

70

75

80

95

North Asia

35

35

70

70

80

90

Japan

35

35

65

70

80

90

Oceania

35

35

65

70

80

90

Australia/New Zealand

40

40

70

80

80

100

*Flights between Alaska and the continental US or Canada require an additional 5,000 miles for saver or 10,000 for standard/Everyday.

**Premium transcon flights with lie-flat beds (EWR-LAX/SFO and BOS-SFO) will require 35k miles for saver business; premium Hawaii flights will require 50k miles for two-cabin first class.

Before and After Partner Award Chart

Here’s what’s changing for flights operated by partner airlines. Again, Y represents economy travel, J for business and F for first class. Mixed-cabin flights price at the highest cabin rate. Multiply all rates by 1,000. Two-cabin first class is priced at the “J” rate.

Destination

Y (Old)

Y (New)

J (Old)

J (New)

F (Old)

F (New)

US, Alaska, Canada

12.5

12.5

25

25

35

35

Hawaii

22.5

22.5

40

40

50

50

Mexico

17.5

17.5

30

30

40

40

Central America

17.5

17.5

30

30

40

40

Caribbean

17.5

17.5

30

30

40

40

North South America

20

20

35

35

45

45

South South America

30

30

55

60

70

80

Europe

30

30

70

70

110

110

Northern Africa

40

40

80

80

130

130

Central/South Africa

40

40

80

80

130

130

Middle East

42.5

42.5

80

85

140

140

Central Asia

42.5

42.5

80

85

140

140

South Asia

40

40

80

90

130

140

North Asia

35

35

80

80

120

120

Japan

35

35

75

80

110

110

Oceania

35

35

75

80

110

110

Australia/New Zealand

40

40

80

90

130

130

Short-Haul Economy Saver Awards

United has been offering 10,000-mile economy awards for flights 700 miles or less within the US for years, and now the airline’s launching a similar award for international partner flights. Beginning November 1, nonstop partner flights of 800 miles or less will cost just 8,000 miles in coach in all regions outside the US — currently, these awards cost as much as 20,000 miles each way. So you could fly Lufthansa from Amsterdam to Munich for just 8,000 MileagePlus miles; however a flight from London to Paris wouldn’t be eligible, since a connection would be required.

Economy saver awards within Japan will continue to cost just 5,000 miles each way.

This is actually a change I fully support — it’s easy enough to cancel an award you don’t plan to take before departure, and booking a seat and not showing up withholds the inventory from other customers, including those looking to redeem their miles.

Bottom Line

Could these changes have been a heck of a lot worse? Absolutely. But there’s no question that this latest round of updates represents a significant devaluation, especially for MileagePlus customers planning to redeem their miles for premium-cabin travel. Fortunately, we have plenty of notice here — there are still several months to book travel under the current chart, and as long as your flight is ticketed by October 31, you can travel beyond November 1 at the rates available today.

Additionally, you may be able to change award tickets on or after November 1 without a reprice — assuming the award type remains unchanged (including class of service and regions), you should be able to change tickets originally issued by October 31 without redeeming additional miles. So, theoretically, you’ll be able to book that fantastic Thai first-class award for 40,000 miles now and change the dates (but not class of service) after November 1 without triggering a reprice. And of course, if you don’t make any changes at all, you won’t need to redeem additional miles.

Which United awards do you plan to book by October 31?

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Editorial Note: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.